Whatever Awaits
by Merra Dawson
Summary: Dimitri and Rose are discovered and forced to leave to the human world to avoid consequences, set after Frostbite.
1. Here We Go

Rose smiled slightly as she walked into the gym and spotted Dimitri. She couldn't imagine a time before he came. He had changed her so much in such a short time, and she was grateful for that. She wasn't about to tell him that, though. He would bring it up at worst possible time to prove a point.

"Rose!" He greeted, waving.

"Afternoon," she grinned at him, sauntering over and punching him lightly on the shoulder.

He looked at her in mild confusion. "You're happy this afternoon."

"Am I not allowed to be happy?"

"Not what I said, Roza," he sighed but his look was soft. "You haven't been yourself lately, after what happened at Spokane."

"I'm happy because I get to spend time with you," she whispered boldly. The last time she had seen Dimitri was when he had talked to her about Mason and then had kissed her, and she was going off the slim hope that he might still want her, and that his guardian mask wasn't back.

He looked at her with conflicton. "Rose..."

"Don't day it Dimitri. Don't say we can't be together. Every time I think you might want me...you pull something stupid and go back to avoiding me."

"Rose, I do want you. I want you so bad...but I don't want us to get caught. Your reputation is at stake."

Rose glared at him and he caught her wrists.

"Let go," she snarled. Her good mood was gone, replaced with rejection.

"I never said I don't want you and don't you _ever _believe that I don't want you because I can't physically show it," Dimitri said roughly. She swallowed.

"Why can't you show it physically? I can't keep doing this and being cut away from you because of the rules. They're stupid," Rose frowned.

Dimitri pulled her to him and hugged her, kissing her forehead. "I know."

"So would you like to explain to me why kissing my forehead is okay, but not my lips?" Rose asked him innocently.

Dimitri groaned and Rose smirked. "Roza, I want to kiss you..."

"Then kiss me, there's nobody around," Rose said earnestly. She was expecting him to argue or say something about how morally incorrect it would be, but apparently his self control had gotten weaker, for his lips were on hers in an instant and it was beautiful and refreshing and she never wanted to leave his embrace.

He tightened his hold on her and ran his hands down her arms, and she could tell his stance over her was protective, and he didn't want to let her go either. They were both clinging to each other as a lifeline, and in a sense they were each other's lifeline, for without the other, life would be miserable.

But right now Rose just wanted to focus on the good. The good was the feeling of Dimitri's mouth covering hers and it felt so good and—

"Guardian Belikov! Novice Hathaway!"

Dimitri and Rose jumped apart as they stared at a furious looking Stan Alto. Rose's heart sunk as she could visibly see Dimitri's job fly out of the window, out of their reach. A quick glance at Dimitri's face showed he was already thinking along the same lines and was resigned about it.

"You two. Come with me," he snapped, and Rose knew better than to argue. She grabbed Dimitri's hand under Stan's seething gaze, figuring it really couldn't hurt at this point. Dimitri squeezed it encouragingly.

Soon they were both standing in Kirova's office, with Alberta, Stan, and Kirova herself.

"What is the meaning of this, Hathaway, Belikov? Stan says he caught you two in a...precarious position," Kirova said accusingly. Rose opened her mouth to speak but Dimitri beat her to it.

"It was my fault, I should have been more responsible and I completely understand it was wrong of me to kiss my student." Rose stared at him, shocked. "I understand I will have to lose my job and you can do whatever you want with me...but don't do anything to Roza. Don't punish her for something that I did in a moment of weakness."

Rose snorted. "Yeah right Comrade, like I'm gonna let you get away with that. I'm the one who asked you to kiss me."

Dimitri gave her a pained look, and she knew he just wanted to protect her. Well, she wasn't about to have it.

"You're not wrong, Belikov," Kirova said. "You did the wrong thing here. I'm disappointed in you, I trusted you more than this."

"I would say I'm sorry but I'm not," Dimitri bowed his head. "And I can pack up my stuff right now if needed."

Kirova looked at him with sickening sympathy. "Belikov, you're going to be reported to Court. They're going to probably arrest you."

"What? No!" Rose looked from Kirova to Dimitri to Alberta. "That can't be true! Everything we've shared has been consensual!"

"That doesn't change the fact that it's illegal," Stan said with clenched teeth.

"But all we've ever done is kissed!" Rose said, mildly infuriated. "That's no reason to put a completely innocent man in jail!"

Alberta sighed. "Do you really think it's wise to report them?"

"Wise? It's necessary!" Kirova burst. "I will not tolerate this behavior at my academy. Rose will be expelled too, of course..."

"No!" Dimitri frowned. "She is the most innocent person in this room!"

"Dimitri would you stop trying to protect me from this? We're both equally guilty parties here, even if we are both innocent. Whatever punishment you get, I get too," Rose glared at the other adults in the room.

"Roza, no," Dimitri said firmly.

"Dimitri why is this such a big deal to you—?"

"_I'm not letting the woman I love get arrested because of me!" _Dimitri snapped. Rose and Alberta froze, as did Dimitri, realizing what he had said.

"Ellen, Stan, can I have a private word with the two?" Alberta asked quietly. Kirova almost protested, but seeing the serious look and Alberta's face, she nodded and Stan and her left the room.

The instant they had left Alberta looked sharply at Dimitri.

"You love her?"

"Yes, I do," he said firmly. "And I will do anything to protect her from getting punished."

Rose had to admire his eagerness, even at the prospect of facing jail time for something trivial.

"Good," Alberta said distractedly. "Then I want you two to do something for me. It's risky, but it's better than jail."

Rose looked at Alberta curiously. She was going to help them?

Alberta smiled at Rose, despite everything. "Rose, I don't want to see you and Dimitri in jail any more than you do."

Dimitri gave her a grateful smile and squeezed Rose's hand.

"Right. I need you two to run. Dimitri, you have stakes on you, yes? Good. Take them and run, go into the human world."

"You want us to live as humans?" Rose asked, shocked.

"It's your only option. Any other place will be searched once they realize you're missing. You understand what this will mean?" Alberta asked urgently.

Rose and Dimitri glanced at each other and nodded. They would possibly never return from where they would go.

"Are we allowed to contact our friends?" Rose asked.

"I suppose, vague information and that you're okay."

They heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Dimitri looked at Alberta.

"We need to go," he said and she nodded, opening the window and ushering them out. It was on the first floor, so there wasn't any drop.

"Thank you," Rose told Alberta. "We could never thank you enough."

Alberta smiled sadly. "Take good care of her Belikov."

"I will, Guardian Petrov. Don't worry."

And by the time Stan and Kirova were back, Alberta was gazing out the open window and told them that the two dhampir had regrettably escaped and were likely to never return.

**xXxXx **

**Here's to the beginning of an adventure in the human world for Rose and Dimtri? Love it? Hate it? Either way, comment! Will get to the sequel on my other story soon! Sorry it ended so abruptly, that was a bad decision on my part! **


	2. On the Run

Rose and Dimitri ran side by side in silence. They had been for twenty minutes now, and had left the school grounds halfway back. Luckily, it was daylight, so a run-in with Strigoi would be rare. Finally, the silence got to Rose and she broke it.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know," Dimitri answered. "We go until we get away."

"Dimitri Belikov, Russian extraordinaire, doesn't have a plan?" Rose joked, trying to lighten the mood. She was rewarded with an exasperated smile and an eye roll.

"I never really planned on this sort of situation ever happening," he replied as they turned onto a long stretch of road.

Rose knew he didn't mean it in a mean way, but she had a hard time biting down the guilt she felt.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault," she sighed.

"Stop, Roza," Dimitri ended all further discussion. "It's both of our faults, we both had a moment of weakness. I can say I regret that I will never be a guardian but I don't regret anything that just happened and you know that."

"But neither of us have a job! And if we ever see any vampires again, our reputations are trashed," Rose exclaimed sadly, realizing she was sounding more like Dimitri trying to fight his feelings.

"Do you regret it? The kids? Us?" Dimitri asked, and she heard a tiny edge of panic in his voice.

"No, no, of course not!" Rose assured him. "That's not it, I just wish we could have left in a different way than trying to escape."

"I know," Dimitri said quietly, but then smiled slightly. "But think about it now, Rose. We can live in the open world without people judging us!"

And for the first time, Rose did really think about it. She had been so caught up in the guilt and panic of leaving the academy that she hadn't stopped to think about the pros of this situation. For starters, Dimitri wouldn't be her teacher anymore, so that wouldn't be an issue. Rose was of legal age now, and nobody would care about two dhampir guardians getting together because everyone would just assume they were human. Rose could feel tears in her eyes.

"Roza, are you alright?" Dimitri sounded concerned.

She nodded. "I'm just—is it wrong for me to be happy right now? I'm leaving my only home but I don't mind at all." Dimitri stopped and Rose followed his lead.

"Of course not, milaya." He enveloped her with his arms and she willingly fell into them. "We're free now, Rose."

After pausing for a few minutes, they continued their run in peaceful silence. They had slowed to a jog, convinced they were far enough away to not be found immediately. Nobody back at the academy, or court for that matter, would know which way they head either, which means an even slimmer chance of getting caught by every second.

Soon they came to a small town and stopped at the gas station there. They both used the bathroom, then Rose paused near the food.

"Dimitri, I don't have any money," she told him worriedly.

"Don't worry, I have a card," he reassured her. She looked at him. "I've been paid enough the last year to last us for a while."

"We'll have to find jobs, I guess," Rose said, and picked up a sandwich while Dimitri grabbed a salad and paid for both.

They walked out with Rose rolling her eyes at him.

"What?" He asked.

"A salad? Really? Could you get any more personal trainer cliché than that?"

"Hey, don't make fun of me, I'm just going healthy today," Dimitri mock bumped into her shoulder.

"Hey, watch where you're going," Rose rammed back into him. They had spotted a bus stop and were patiently waiting at it. Dimitri took the opportunity to nearly knock Rose over with the force of his body.

"I could beat you up right here if I wanted to," she warned. "I'll do it, don't think I won't."

Dimitri chuckled. "Don't I know it. It's one of the many things I love about you."

"Oh, that's right, I had forgotten," Rose said carefully, trying to keep the mood light while talking about a serious topic. "You happened to profess your undying love for me back there, would you like to explain that."

She was pretty sure she saw the tall Russian blush. "Sorry, I was caught up in the moment and it slipped out. Not that I didn't mean it. I meant it. And I understand if you're not ready for that and can't say it back...I'll wait for you—"

Rose let his sentence die off and smiled. "Oh, I do love you Dimitri Belikova. I love you so much it hurts sometimes."

She saw Dimitri light up at her words, and he swept her into a kiss, and Rose reveled in the feeling of kissing him in broad daylight with nothing to worry about. Hypothetically. They still had no idea if they were being followed or not, but Rose was past caring.

The bus came and they got on, Rose grinning from ear to ear. She knew she really should be sorry about leaving the academy, but she couldn't bring herself to be.

"Where's this bus go?" Dimitri asked the driver. After explaining a route to him, Dimitri and Rose sat in the back as the bus changed its path to go towards the nearest city.

"You can get lost easier in a city," Dimitri said. "Plus there's more means of transportation."

Rose nodded and scooted close to him while she unwrapped her sandwich. He put his arm around her, and she ate her food in bliss. She loved how he was showing his affectionate side more openly now.

She hadn't realized how much she had missed physical contact. It just wasn't something she would get often. She was sure Dimitri was the same way; since he was a guardian, he would always be in the shadows watching other people, having no time for himself.

They both unconsciously moved closer, accidentally bumping heads, and they grinned at each other.

"Sorry about that," Rose apologized. Dimitri just shook his head and kept his arm around her.

"You should apologize too, it was partly your fault," Rose insisted.

"What am I going to do with you, Roza?" Dimitri just laughed. And Rose accepted that over an apology.


	3. Hot Tubs and Buses

The bus stopped in Missoula a few hours later. Rose and Dimitri had sat in silence most of the way, and Rose drifted off once or twice, always waking to see Dimitri awake and alert. They got off of the bus after politely thanking the driver, and looked around.

"Well, there's a lot of places to get lost," Rose commented. Dimitri nodded.

"I doubt anyone will look for us here in a while, but I still say we don't settle for long."

"Where do you plan on going to stay long-term then?" Rose asked, genuinely curious. He must have some sort of a plan as to where they were going. He looked at her cautiously.

"I was thinking...maybe eventually going to Russia?" He said, and Rose was so shocked she almost stopped walking.

"Roza, what's wrong?"

In retrospect, it wasn't really that shocking. She just wasn't expecting that.

"Russia?" She squeaked. Dimitri looked worried.

"Yeah, I mean, we don't have to go if you're not comfortable with that, it's just, I haven't been home in years, and my family hasn't heard from me in so long, it would be so good to go home—"

"No, no, that's fine," Rose said, immediately feeling guilty. He was feeling homesick. "It's just that I've never been out of the country before, but that sounds great. I'm sure your family will want to see you. Plus, it's far away."

Dimitri's eyes lit up like a little kids. He picked Rose up and spun her around, and she giggled. "Thank you, Roza! You'll love Baia! And my family will love you, I'm sure of it! I'll order the plane tickets as soon as I can, we can probably get there by next week—"

"Woah, calm down Belikov!" Rose laughed as he set her down. "Never thought I'd have to say that!"

Dimitri looked sheepish as they began walking again. "Sorry, I'm just excited."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Dimitri, and it's completely understandable that you're excited," Rose reached over and grabbed his hand and they continued on their walk, now with Dimitri grinning from ear to ear.

Dimitri stopped at a vendor along the street to look at an address map, and quickly scanned it for nearby hotels. He pointed a few out to Rose and asked her to pick one. She shrugged and pointed at the cheapest one, and it was about three blocks away.

Dimitri thanked the man running the stand and they continued. About halfway to the hote Rose had a thought.

"If we go to Russia, will you be able to guard? We'll be far away, and I could finish school at St. Basil's—"

But Dimitri was slowly shaking his head. "Sorry, Rose. I really am sorry for putting you in this situation, but guarding really isn't a possibility for either of us anymore. Kirova will have contacted all the other schools she can think of to spread the news of us, and even if they took us in, the authorities from here would be alerted of our whereabouts."

Rose frowned. She hadn't thought about that.

"This is all so stupid," she muttered. Dimitri pulled her closer to himself.

"I know, but we don't have a choice, Roza," he sighed. "We just have to make the best of what we are given."

"But nothing even happened between you and me! It was a kiss! We didn't even have sex!"

Dimitri flinched, and Rose regretted saying that so loud.

"I know Roza," he said finally. "But there's nothing we can do about other people's mindsets on the matter, especially the people at court."

They arrived at the hotel and in a matter of minutes were able to rent a room for a few nights. Rose convinced Dimitri to treat them to a suite with a hot tub, and she was almost shaking with excitement as they entered the room.

The first thing Rose did was flop onto the giant bed.

"I could get used to this," she sighed with pleasure. Dimitri chuckled.

"Well don't, we're not staying very long," he reminded her and she groaned, sitting up. Dimitri had dumped their duffle bags on the couch. Spotting the tub in the next room connected to theirs, Rose was glad she threw in a swimsuit.

"Hot tub?" She asked Dimitri innocently.

"We should really be looking into plane tickets to Baia—"

"Later," Rose said, grabbing her bikini and rushing to the bathroom to throw it on. Less than two minutes later she stood before Dimitri with a towel and he rolled his eyes.

"Rose, if we're going to be living together you can't do this to me, we'll never get anything done," he joked. Rose was still focused on the 'living together' part, but let it slide.

"Are you going to join me?" She asked him, and he sighed, but turned to his own bag to grab swim trunks. She grinned triumphantly and went out to the hot tub.

She turned back to see if Dimitri was following her, but he was gone. She wondered if he was in the bathroom, when suddenly she was hit by a force and submersed in water.

She came up gasping for air and Dimitri was laughing. It was a sound she hadn't heard much before and she savored it a moment before punching Dimitri with quite a bit of force.

"Ow!" He complained, but Rose knew she hadn't hurt him hardly at all.

"I could have drowned!" She told Dimitri, acting angry.

"You could have drowned in a three foot deep hot tub?" Dimitri asked with both his eyebrows raised.

"Shut up," Rose crossed her arms over her chest. Dimitri half swam to her and held her to him. The water was hot, but Rose's skin tingled from the close contact.

"You know you love me," Dimitri whispered in her ear. She turned her head to face his and her heartbeat sped up at the look on his face.

"Yes, yes I do," she responded with a grin. He leaned in for a kiss to share as the start of their new life together. Rose proceeded to grab his neck and shoved him backwards under the water.

**xXxXx**

**Another short chapter of just some fluff right now. Review! Love it? Hate it? I don't care which: LET ME KNOW WHY!! **


	4. An Unlikely Savior

Rose woke up the next morning to find herself alone in the hotel bed. She wasn't too surprised, figuring Dimitri wouldn't have wanted to embarrass her or himself by waking up next to her. She hoped he would get past that soon, or they were in for a long ride. She tried getting out of bed, but had somehow become so tangled in her sheets that when she took her first step, she fell flat on her face with a big thump.

Before she could even think about wincing in pain, Dimitri had skidded into the room with his stake extended, wildly scanning it. Seeing no immediate threat, he then glanced around for Rose. She cleared her throat and his eyes met hers.

"Roza, what are you doing on the floor?" He asked, clearly sounding confused. His stake was still ready, but he was holding it with less certainty. She tried to keep a straight face for his sake, she really did. She knew he was just concerned for her and there was a genuine fear that they could have been caught. But she couldn't help it, and she snorted. Dimitri's face grew red.

"I fell off the bed, Dimitri," she exclaimed while chuckling. "Nobody attacked me, that was all my own stupidity."

He frowned, but came over to help her stand up. "Roza, how do you manage to make the simplest tasks seem life threatening?"

She untangled her legs and grabbed his outstretched arm, pulling herself up. "Hell if I know. It's just the Hathaway way!"

Dimitri rolled his eyes, but put his stake back in his pocket. Rose eyed it.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue, though, valiant prince," Rose smirked.

"Shut up, Roza, I thought you were in danger," Dimitri glared at her and she smiled innocently. He walked out of the room shaking his head. "Put some more clothes on," he called back to her as an afterthought. She glanced down at her spandex and t-shirt and stuck her tongue out at his retreating back.

She quickly threw on an outfit and then joined Dimitri in the side room. He was on his laptop, scrolling. Rose sat down on his foot rest, right as he was about to put his feet up. He just sighed.

"Found a plane yet?" Rose asked nonchalantly.

He rolled his eyes but she noticed he couldn't help the wide grin that spread on his face.

"I did," he said happily, and he turned the laptop to show her. "We leave tonight and should be there by tomorrow morning."

Rose just shook her head. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that they would be going to Russia in less than 12 hours. She had never been out of the country before, so this would be new.

"That's great! Have you contacted your family to tell them we're coming?" Rose asked. Dimitri grew a mischievous look that rivaled her own normal expression.

"No, I don't think I will. I want to surprise them," he explained. Rose knew if she could raise her eyebrow, it would be raised right now.

"You want to give your family a heart attack?" She asked. He chuckled.

"No, no, I just want our reunion to be made better with the element of surprise. I haven't seem them since I came to America."

Rose felt a little guilty. Even though she and her mom had a rough relationship and didn't see each other often, she still saw her mom more than Dimitri.

"Roza, it's fine, we'll be seeing them soon," Dimitri promised, somehow reading her mind like always.

Rose thought of something and her eyes widened. "Oh, no," she muttered, and stood up. Dimitri creased his brow.

"What is it?"

She turned to him with panicked eyes. "They're going to have to tell my mom about this!"

"About what?"

"About you and me and our "affair" and then running away and—Oh my—the whole Academy is gonna know and—"

"And they're going to do nothing because you'll be on another continent," Dimitri said firmly. Rose tried to calm her heartbeat. "Calm down, Roza. I don't care about our reputation at the academy. What matters is that I get to be with you forever from now on."

"Yeah...but my mom is going to be pissed. I can see her fury now at the thought of her daughter dating a 24-year-old teacher."

"Mentor. _Forme__r _mentor," Dimitri corrected.

"And you're sure _your _family will like me?" Rose asked, unsure. Dimitri smiled.

"They'll be so thrilled that I've finally brought a girl home that they won't even care to know the rest of the details," he assured her.

"Are you absolutely positive?"

"Never been more positive about anything in my life," Dimitri responded. Rose sighed.

"I just wish there was a different way for us to get what we wanted," she said. Dimitri looked at her thoughtfully.

"I understand," Dimitri agreed. "But there's nothing we can do about it now. And you can still contact everyone you want to."

Rose stood straight up. "Oh no, I forgot to text Lissa! She's got to be so worried!" Dimitri watched her in amusement as she ran out of the room and over to her phone by the bedside. She had texts from Lissa, Eddie, even Adrian. They were all the same: _where are you, what happened, are you okay, _and _is it true? _

Rose bit her lip as her fingers hovered over her phone keypad, debating her response. She decided to text Lissa.

_I'm okay, Dimitri and I have found it necessary to live on our own for awhile. I can't tell you where we are, we don't want to be found. We're both very scared but excited. I don't know what you've heard but I can confirm Dimitri and I are in a relationship. Sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't tell anyone (too dangerous) but that didn't work I guess lol. __I'll miss you. I love you_

_Rose_


End file.
